Episode 1

After the cutscenes ends and you get out of your car, go to the lamppost and look up at the light. Travel forward toward the broken bridge, there's a secret thermos under it. so if your looking for the collectibles, pick it up. The walkthrough focuses on Nightmare difficulty, and assumes you will not be looking for collectibles (except the Nightmare Pages) since you can easily grab all items on Normal difficulty.

Hence, all the damage and encounters in this walkthrough will be for Nightmare difficulty (which is unlocked after beating the game once -- and unlocks the Hard difficulty clear achievement as well).

Flee from the enemy until you are trained with the flashlight and revolver. Fill up on ammo and work to the bunker near the safezone with the Flaregun. The key thing in Wake is to use up ammo when it's given to you (unless you know there is a large ambush later) as you will get more ammunition.

About the only thing that you want to scrimp on are flashbangs, since they are like smart bombs when enemies get close on Nightmare. Use the flaregun to take down the enemies near the bunker and haul ass to the lighthouse. Again, note there's a secret (thermos) right before you leave this zone -- collectible items are annoying like that.

On the ferry, approach the old guy on the railing so Wake's wife can snap some pictures with a camera she's carrying. Leave the ferry and enter the diner.

In the diner, you can initiate an event to get an achievement later. Oblige the two old men in the booth and operate the jukebox until music plays. That's part one of two for the "Drink 'em up Both" achievement.

Head to the restroom, knock on the door, then leave the diner.

At the cabin, be sure to explore the area (no enemies, daytime) before doing Wake's wife's bidding. Turn on the generator (which is better than 'main screen turn on') and head back into the house. Check the study. Some stuff happens. Head back into the cabin and let's move on.

From the car crash, make way on the trail to the first logging yard. Hop the fence after you get the Nightmare manuscript (check the collectibles section -- we will only call these out casually from here on out).

Grab the items before the enemy is spawned as Wake near the zone's exit (to get the flashlight). There no nightmare items here, but you can grab some normal items. Once inside the cabin, take all the items, then use the phone.

To get out of the cabin (unlike earlier, you can die), exit the side door (away from the dozer). Expend ammo to blast the two enemies. Notice that on Nightmare, enemies take almost no "light" damage from the torch unless it is boosted.

Get across electrified fence by powering down the switch. Hop over and go down the slope near the logging crane to the next section. Note you can use the electrical wire to fry the enemies and save ammo.

Get across the river (no enemies while crossing) and you will enter the second logging yard. The goal here is to use the generator to power the logging crane -- this lets Wake move the logs to form a platform for him to reach the upper area.

Going near the generator means an enemy ambush though. So, instead of activating the generator (you have no flares to keep enemies at bay), break left-wards at the generator towards a stack of logs with a ladder. You can put Wake above harm's reach (esp. handy on Nightmare) to snipe enemies who can't do much else.

Once the enemies are all neutralized (no respawns), head into the construction cabin, grab a shotgun, and turn the power on the generator. Move the log platform into place (between the stacks) and hop over.

At the upper logging area, there are no enemies until Wake crests the hill with the manuscript page. The goal is to quickly reach the generator seen above left, start the generator, and get the safezone activated.

If can't get to the generator in time, you can still come out ahead in Nightmare. Simply turn around, boost the torch to stun incoming enemies, then turn back around and sprint. Naturally, you should be moving towards the objective at all times. Wake should be able to repeat this process up to the safezone before the drop to the second logging yard.

From the final safezone in the upper logging area, drop down and head downhill towards the locked gate. The next safezone is in the cabin with the gate switch. Inside, you will find a shotgun (handy, but unnecessary) and some supplies. Operate the switch to open the gate.

In the logging yard, locate the infinite revolver ammo case. You can jump onto the ammo case, and from the lid, onto the boxes nearby. Perfect this technique before triggering the boss. Using just this position, you can empty 30+ bullets into the boss' face and he dies.

If you're worried about the other enemies on nightmare, you probably should've taken that flaregun from the supply cache up the road (before entering the yard); if you've been conserving correctly, you will have enough flaregun ammo to down most of the annoyances with one shot.

Even if you don't the blind spot should be more than enough to let you handle the enemies with the revolver. Just make sure the shield is gone before firing, or you waste ammo.

Head for the gas station and enter it. If you want to explore, do so before you go into the station. The only other item of note would be on nightmare and behind the gas station. Everything else you can get on Normal difficulty.